Chinese ships shunning waters near Korea amid tensions

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- Chinese fishing vessels are leaving the Yellow Sea,
where tensions between the two Koreas have escalated after Pyongyang's threats of
military clash, a defense source here said Friday.

"Chinese fishing ships operating near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) began
withdrawing yesterday," the source said, adding the military authorities are
trying to find out whether North Korea asked them to do so.
More than 280 Chinese vessels were fishing near the NLL for crab earlier this
week but the number has reduced to about 140, according to the source.
Tensions are running high around the de-facto inter-Korean maritime border
following North Korea's warning Tuesday of military action that came after South
Korea announced its full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative,
a U.S.-led campaign to stop the trade of weapons of mass destruction and related
materials.
The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a
truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea has said that it will no longer be bound
by the armistice.
Bloody naval skirmishes erupted between the two sides in 1999 and 2002 near the NLL.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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